ng:fileExist

The ng:fileExist Xpath function has this format:

ng:fileExist(path)

where path contains the path to a file, that should be verified.

The function returns true, if the file exists and false, if the file does not exist.

The function can e.g. be used for verifying, if a file exists before you try to embed it in a PDF file.

The function can also be used for verifying if a folder exists. This expression e.g. validates to true, if the folder 'Windows' is found on the C-drive: ng:fileExist('C:\Windows')

The ng:fileExist() function returns the value true() if the input parameter is an invalid expression or null, so it is highly recommended to test that your setup works correctly both if the file does exist and also if the file does not exist.

Examples

On the Windows platform you can use this expression:

ng:fileExist('C:\temp\testfile.txt')

On the IBM i you can e.g. use this to verify if an image is found in the IFS with this expression:

ng:fileExist('/IFormNG2/MyImages/CHKPRE.png')

ng:fileExist('//QNTC/MyServer/Share/filename.pdf')

Please notice, that the reference to the file is not a URL, so you should not e.g. replace any spaces in the path and file name with %20.

This is a valid test to verify if the file 'My text file.txt' exists:

ng:fileExist('C:\temp\My text file.txt')

This expression is always true no matter if the file exists or not:

The reason is, that the input parameter for the ng:fileExist function is invalid (that is indicated with the red text, 'Expression' and the error message/warning below the expression.

So although an invalid expression has been setup, the if condition is considered true (To correct the expression you need to add single or double quotes around the fixed text).

Related function is ng:resourceExist.